1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to automated test equipment (ATE), and in particular, to operation of ATE in a networked environment of multiple test controllers.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is a common to use tester resource sharing when implementing manufacturing tests to insure maximum utilization of the tester (i.e., ATE). This is traditionally done by some sort of handshaking or message passing, where one test controller (e.g., a computer, or “PC”) signals to other controllers that it is currently using the ATE, with the other controllers waiting until the first controller is done using the ATE, following which the first controller signals that it is done using the ATE. This means that the actual sharing is traditionally handled separately from the ATE, e.g., by use of shared file structures among the controllers or by sending messages between the controllers. Whereas this is a usable implementation, it requires the test software developer to implement the equipment sharing as a separate entity from the actual test software. Furthermore, significant overhead may exist, if the control program alters the ATE setup during test, in which case the ATE will either have to be initialized or reset, or the controllers will have to communicate among themselves regarding the state of the ATE setup. Usually, the first approach is the safest, e.g., in case of a failure in the test, which can lead to wrong ATE state information being passed among the controllers.